It was 1982 – the year that saw the birth of Prince William, the Falklands War and record low temperatures of -27C in Scotland – when a young farmer turned his hand to writing for the Chronicle.
Jonathan Whittingham, then 28, was given a three-week trial by then editor Derek Bourne to replace the late former farming correspondent Ray Mortimer after his dad John recommended him. He kept his Whittingham’s World column and has never missed a week since.
While his early columns were specifically centred around agriculture and appeared on dedicated farming pages, in more recent years he has become a regular on the letters and comment pages discussing issues such as the seasons and new technology – earlier this year one of Jonathan’s columns discussed the Farmville application on social networking website Facebook.
Jonathan, 56, has been well placed to comment on the farming industry – he has lived at Merrington Lane Farm near Bomere Heath all his life, a venture run by his father and grandfather before him. These days the farm is an arable venture with crops such as wheat barley and oilseed rape.
His column in this week’s Chronicle will be his last weekly one, and although he will return on occasions as a guest columnist Jonathan has plenty lined up for the future.
First is a week-long holiday in Sorrento with his wife Anne, which has already been put back two weeks by the Icelandic volcano grounding all flights in and out of Britain. But Jonathan hasn’t closed the door on writing.
He said: “I’ve felt for a little while I’ve been struggling to make the column different – it’s been the same issues coming around again and again. But I might try something a bit different – I’ve thought about writing a book and I would base it on the stuff I have written over the years.
“There are certain things in farming that never change, like the weather and crops, and there’s always been something to have a moan about – it’s almost a famous farming habit.
‘Big decision’
“This is a big decision for me as I’ve been doing the column for such a long time, it is exactly half my life. But I’m going to be carrying on with the farm in what’s almost a semi-retired capacity.”
The Chronicle’s assistant editor Kim Bennett said: “I am not alone in saying Jonathan is a brilliant writer. To sustain a column for 28 years, keeping it bright, fresh and funny every time is an incredible achievement. We wish him the very best for the future, and hope he will return from time to time as a guest columnist.”
For many years Jonathan’s column has run alongside Russell Mulford’s In My View column. Russell wrote for the paper for around 20 years until he was laid low by illness last year.
Russell said: “Our columns have run almost in parallel for a long time. Mine was an eye on officialdom such as health and local authorities and looking at issues like the North West Relief Road and the railways, while Jonathan’s focused on the farming industry and was a bit more whimsical as he looked at lots of other topics.”
By Peter Kitchen